Evil rocks can wreck your chain and swingarm

[Bogus Jim]

Here's a photo of the left swing arm on my wrr. Like most dirt bikes it has a chain guide in front of the rear sprocket.



Here's a photo of the evil rock that jammed inside the chain guide, at the arrow in the photo above. This had the unfortunate effect of making the chain fiddle-string tight when the suspension was compressed. You can see the chain wear marks on the rock.



The wrr has another chain guard that wraps the upper and lower sides of the swing arm, where the swing arm pivots in the frame. On the left is an old chain guard with 11,000 miles of wear (shown upside down). On the right is a new chain guard that was completely destroyed in about 100 miles, after the rock lodged in the rear chain guide. The chain wore completely through the front guard, and also wore a groove in the swing arm.



Someone on advrider recently posted this exact same damage to their wrr, with a rock in the chain guide. When reading that post, I figured it was a 1 in 10,000 chance of getting a rock lodged in there, but I guess not. Happened to me.

Anyway, put on a new chain and sprockets this afternoon. They were overdue, 12k+ miles. Put the old chain guard with 11k back on, I think it will run for a while until I get a new one. I don't think the swingarm strength has been compromised by the grooves but I'll probably pull it this winter and get it filled in with weld or something.

Not sure what the moral is here. I check the chain guard at every oil change and check chain tension before every ride, so I'm pretty sure this all happened in just 1 ride, around 100 miles. Bummer. Fooking rocks.

[Dr Psyko]

I had a 77 xs650 that I rode into the ground; no money, lot's of time. The chain got so loose, it would rub against the top of the swing arm when declerating. At night, it would through sparks.  Scared alot of folks when they would see that for the first time.

[loingrader]

Not sure what the moral is here.

i think the moral to the story is that the wrr is more suited to pavement duties since an innocent little rock caused so much damage.

best to by a KLR650 if you want to ride off the pavement. 

[Bogus Jim]

best to buy a KLR650 if you want to ride off the pavement.

I don't think I can pick up a KLR with a full gas tank. That's about 500 lbs. isn't it? I would either have to work on my riding skills so I never drop the bike, or learn how to use a block and tackle with portable pole tripod. 

[loingrader]

that's what friends are for, or you could just bolt a handyman jack on the left side of the bike to offset the heavy hunk of metal that is the stock exhaust.  the jack would surely lift a down'd klr. 

when i'm offroad i only run 2 or 3 gallons in the tank to help with the weight. 

i'm betting this rock in the chainguide problem could happen to pretty much anything with a chain.  thanks for the heads up!